


Drag Race Eleganza Extravaganza

by WatermelonTuesdays



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura is Michelle Visage, Alternate Universe - Drag Queens, Blink and you miss it Allurance, Blink and you miss it Hance, Coran is Ru Paul, Drag Queens, Drag queen Keith, Emotional Baggage, Emotions, Humor, M/M, Makeover, Ru Paul's Drag Race AU, RuPaul's Drag Race References, Sexual Tension, Veteran Shiro (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-19
Packaged: 2020-04-23 01:08:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19140541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WatermelonTuesdays/pseuds/WatermelonTuesdays
Summary: Keith (AKA: Anita Screw) is a contestant on Coran's Drag Race, and during the makeover challenge he is paired up with army vet Shiro. Sparks fly between them, but Keith's got a job to do and a competition to slay.------“And it looks like Shiro is going over to little miss Anita Screw.”Keith looks up just in time to see a dazzling smile heading his way, though the eyes behind it are looking a little overwhelmed. He doesn’t have a witty anything to say, but he instinctively reaches for the hand Hunk is holding out to him. He takes the man’s hand in his own and squeezes it, hoping that’s reassuring and not creepy.Keith is distracted enough that he doesn’t see the final two pairings, he’s too focused on the wall of muscle beside him. Shiro has at least 3 inches on him, and once he gets a set of heals on he’s going to be towering. There’s not an ounce of fat on him, it’s all rippling, rolling muscle; Keith has half a mind to oil the man down and just roll around on top of him.But maybe that’s just the month-long forced celibacy talking.





	1. Day 1: In the Workroom

**Author's Note:**

> Edit: Chapter 2 now features art from the incomparable [pejasposarambi](https://twitter.com/pejaposarambi) / [diococky](https://twitter.com/diococky) and you should go look at the art and then follow the artist! <3 
> 
> Ahh! I'm very excited to share this fic with you guys! 
> 
> Before we start, here are the queens' names so you don't get confused.  
> Real name = Drag name
> 
> Coran = Coran  
> Keith = Anita Screw  
> Hunk = Hunk-alicious  
> Lance = Vera Deara (Like Varadero)  
> Lotor = Lotor/Lotoria (Like Victor/Victoria)  
> Shiro = Ivanka Screw  
> Matt = Matty-cakes  
> Sendak = Sendaktra  
> Kolivan = Debbie Zaal (Like Daibazaal)

Previously on Coran’s Drag Race:

Our top 7 queens showed off their acting chops in our delicious debut drag show Meat Market Supreme. 

Hunk: WHAT do I do with all these _sausages_?!!

The tensions simmering between pageant queen Vera Deara and edge queen Anita Screw –

Lance: Why don’t you put down your hot glue gun before you come after me, _sweetie_? 

Keith: If I was coming for you, you’d already feel it, you basic ass bitch!

– finally hit a turning point.

Keith: You know, working one-on-one with Vera as the conjoined Chop sisters, Porka and Lamby I really got to see another side of her. Maybe she’s not completely talentless. She’s still annoying though.

Some performances really rose to the top –

Coran: Hunk-alicious, your role as Miss Patty Supreme left us gagging, and your meaty tuck runway realness was more than we could handle. Condragulations, you’re a winner baby!

– while others, left us hungry.

Coran: Miss Rolo Caramel, tonight you served us steak, but that meat was not Grade A. Rolo Caramel; Sashay Away.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~ In the Workroom

Keith pads into the workroom behind the rest of the girls, dressed in his usual boy clothes of cargo shorts and a black tank. He gives the camera an ironic sour look as the other girls all squawk about “Top 6, guuurl!” and flap their arms as they enter the room.

They circle the table where they’re expected to wait for Coran’s new assignment, and Keith perches himself on a stool at the end.

“Aww, come on, Anita, get in here,” Hunk wraps an arm over Keith and attempts to drag him over to the rest of the group. When he doesn’t budge, Hunk scoots his stool over instead so that Keith isn’t sitting alone. He starts to say something, but it interrupted by Lance stretching his whole body over the table to tap at his arm.

“And what about you, miss thing? Winning _another_ challenge. You must be feeling pretty good about yourself.”

Keith resists the urge to roll his eyes, he manages only because he’s genuinely happy for Hunk. They’ve created an unlikely friendship over the last 9 episodes, and he’s glad for Hunk’s success.

“Well, I mean, if anyone’s going to ace the meat challenge it’s gotta be me, you know?” Hunk laughs with equal parts pride and self-deprecation. It’s a unique mix, and one that Keith finds is distinctly ‘Hunk,’ though he recognizes that adding a little pride to his own constant self-derision would likely help round himself out in some vital ways.

He puts a hand to Hunk’s knee, about to echo Lance’s congratulations, when a blasting noise fills the work room. It’s their signal to race over to the big tv in the corner and listen to a nonsensical pun-filled rant from none other than Supermodel of the Universe herself: Coran.

They run as directed, no longer distracted by the swinging cameras and boom mics that follow them around the work room. 

“She done already done had herses!” booms over the speakers the moment they’re in place and then Coran’s face fills the screen in full drag.

It’s the same look every day, a simple black-strapped outfit, with full blown-back orange hair, glamourous makeup, and Coran’s signature mustache, teased and coiffed to perfection. 

“Ladies! Get ready to _shine your boots_ and _sound off_ to the beat of your _own bugle_ , baby. Cos if you want to win this _war_ , you’d best come in ready to _werk your asses and elbows_ off. So, it’s time to _fall in_ ; if you want to get any of the _chest candy_ , henny. Ha ha ha!”

“What the fuck does that mean?” Lance asks the room, but everyone’s too busy with their own confusion to address his. 

“Hello, hello, hello!” Coran interrupts the confusion with a cheery grin as he pops in from the hallway. He’s in his regular boys clothes now, his red hair relatively tame, and looking snazzy in his designer suit. Today’s is blue with a white centre and gold trim that looks vaguely militaristic. 

Keith’s heart drops into his stomach as he starts to put things together: bugle, war, Coran’s outfit. This is going to get political.

“Hi Coran!” the girls reply all together. 

“Now, for today’s main challenge we’re having a real veteran’s affair. Oh _Bo-oys_!” Coran sing-songs and raises an arm as a large door opens off to the side of the work room. 

In walk 6 manly looking men. At least half of them are fully large enough to bench press Keith with ease and at first Keith can think of nothing but the raw meat and sex appeal of the men before him.

They step together as they walk in, as if they’re marching together, and when they stop they turn to Coran and give a sharp salute.

“At ease, gentlemen,” Coran says with a coy smile. 

Some of the men crack a smile at that, though one or two of the bigger ones don’t really look capable of smiling. It’s then that Keith’s heart sinks a little further into his stomach. There’s no doubt in his mind that this is the makeover challenge; but these guys? Seriously?

Some of them are full-blooded galra, and Keith knows the struggle anyone will have with getting those guys to sissy a walk, or shave their faces. All he can do right now, though, is hope to god he gets one of the humans.

“Ladies, we are joined today by some of the finest queer veterans from our galactic army. Your challenge is to take these burly, manly, _muscley_ men…” Coran fakes distraction as he eyes one of the larger galra men, and they all chuckle, “and turn them into bombshell _divas_! Hunk-alicious, since you won the last challenge, you get to assign the groups.”

Coran steps back so that Hunk can prance forward. 

He rushes immediately to a tall and willowy, sandy-haired man and takes him by the hand. 

“You’re coming with me, sweet cheeks,” he says and draws the man over to the empty space where he once stood. 

“Ok, so Matt goes with Hunk-alicious,” Coran says for the camera.

Hunk makes a show of inspecting the other men, tapping a finger to his chin as he looks them over. 

Keith crosses his fingers behind his back and prays to any god that Hunk’s friendship holds out enough to give him a good one.

“And Kolivan goes to Vera. Oh, you got a whole _handful_ of man to work with, don’t you Vera?” Coran comments as one of the larger galra men marches over to Lance. 

“Good thing I know how to handle this much man,” Lance returns amidst a chorus of “ooh gurl!” from the other queens.

Hunk takes the largest, and by far the scariest, of the galra soldiers and leads him forward. For a hot moment, Keith thinks Hunk is about to present him with this hulking monstrosity, but at the last moment he turns and delivers him to Lotor.

“And Sendak is matched with Lotoria.”

“And it’s a match made in heaven,” Lotor says in a sickly sweet voice that nearly gags Keith. The galra doesn’t seem terribly impressed with it either, which sparks a mean spirited kind of glee inside Keith. Lance might be annoying, but Lotor doesn’t know how to put his inner bitch to rest.

“And it looks like Shiro is going over to little miss Anita Screw.” 

Keith looks up just in time to see a dazzling smile heading his way, though the eyes behind it are looking a little overwhelmed. He doesn’t have a witty anything to say, but he instinctively reaches for the hand Hunk is holding out to him. He takes the man’s hand in his own and squeezes it, hoping that’s reassuring and not creepy. 

Keith is distracted enough that he doesn’t see the final two pairings, he’s too focused on the wall of muscle beside him. Shiro has at least 3 inches on him, and once he gets a set of heals on he’s going to be towering. There’s not an ounce of fat on him, it’s all rippling, rolling muscle; Keith has half a mind to oil the man down and just roll around on top of him.

But maybe that’s just the month-long forced celibacy talking.

“Ok, now Ladies, you have 2 days to create a unique, Bombshell Realness look for you and your veteran. I can’t wait to see your Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, _and_ Talent up on that main stage. And don’t forget, I’m looking to see a real _family_ resemblance, okurr?”

“Okurr!” they reply, with Lance’s trill echoing all the way up to the rafters. 

“Alright! Now gentlemen! Start your engines, and may the best _woman_ – win!” 

They clap as Coran leaves the room, but the moment she’s gone everyone grabs hold of their veteran and moves to their own work bench. This is a massive undertaking, and no one has time to waste.

As Keith pulls his muscle man behind him, he makes eyes at Hunk and blows him a happy kiss. Hunk certainly kept the most fishy looking vet for himself, but at least he gave Keith a good human body to work with.

“Alright, it’s Shiro, is it?” Keith asks as they settle together on the stools at the work bench. He’s immediately all business, and he ties his long hair back into a high messy bun, the pen to his sketchbook caught between his teeth.

“Yes. And it’s…” Shiro hesitates, “Anita?”

Keith plucks the pen from his teeth and vamps a little, stretching his long legs out and holding his arms up proudly, “That’s me. Anita Screw.”

“R-right,” Shiro blushes and turns away with an innocence that is immediately endearing. He rubs his hands across the table like it’s a nervous habit, and Keith can’t help but notice the metallic scraping sound across the table top. “So, where do we start?”

“Well, we start by getting to know you a little better. Have you ever done drag before?” Keith leans in to ask the question, but that just seems to discomfit Shiro more, so he backs off. 

“No, no, not at all,” Shiro stammers.

“Hmm. Ever worn heels before? No? What about make up?”

“Uhh… to cover a black eye once.” He looks sheepish at the admission, and Keith gives him an encouraging smile.

“Well that’s something. What about wearing a dress?”

“I had a night shirt when I was little, but, that… that wasn’t anything. I don’t know why I said that.” Shiro drops his head into his hands with a tiny noise of frustration.

This is not the sort of behaviour Keith would have expected from an army boy, and he is at a bit of a loss with how to deal with it. He settles for dropping a hand over Shiro’s shoulder and leaning over him to speak quietly.

“Hey, we all start somewhere. And there’s nothing wrong with not putting a dress on as a young boy. Most people would say you’re the normal one, here.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry. I just,” Shiro pulls up suddenly and Keith straightens as well, returning his hand back to his lap, “I just think what you guys do is really cool and brave. You put yourselves out there, you know? And I’ve never really done anything like that.”

Ok, this guy’s coming in with the big guns right out of the bat, but for once Keith doesn’t find it terrifying. Quite possibly, 4 and a half weeks of this competition has actually made Keith mature a little. How ‘bout that!

“Well, there’s always a first time for everything. And I think, before we dig into our look, we should get you into a pair of heels right away so you can get used to moving in them.”

Shiro’s feet are significantly bigger than Keith’s, but luckily they have access to Coran’s full line of Altean Amazonian pumps and it doesn’t take them long to have Shiro strapped into a pair and tottering around the work room.

He clings to Keith as he wobbles his way back over to the work bench. 

“This is what women wear?” He asks incredulously as he drops back onto his stool.

“Every damn day,” Keith replies lightly. He hums an agreement at Shiro’s unhappy grunt, then pulls his sketchbook between them. “So, my style is usually very kinda edgy, slutty, punk rocker bad girl style, you know?” He can see the bob of Shiro’s head out of the corner of his eye, so Keith just keeps going. “So I was thinking, you could be my sister, Ivanka Screw, and we could give you like, the big rachet hair. And maybe something skin tight and revealing. I’m thinking like, black with maybe a paint splatter design, and some matching leather jackets? I know it’s supposed to be ‘bombshell,’ but I think if we lean into the kinda bad ass image, we can pull it off as an actual bombshell and not just like, a pin up girl. You know what I mean?”

A cursory glance away from the silhouette he’s sketching tells Keith that Shiro does not understand whatsoever.

Keith withholds a nervous giggle and gives Shiro another smile. 

“Bombshell is usually like, a more Marilyn Monroe, classy pin up girl from the 40s kind of thing.” Keith sketches out a quick outline of a dress. “But I think if we go a little more literal on the kind of army, bad ass, fighting thing, it’ll still work.”

“I see…” Shiro doesn’t sound convinced, but he at least seems to understand, so Keith takes that as a good sign.

He swings around and off his stool with an energy that seems to surprise Shiro, who’s still looking down at the sketches in a bit of wonder.

“Come on, I want to take you to the fabric wall so we can start looking at colours.” 

When Shiro doesn’t move, Keith offers his hand. Shiro grasps it firmly in his own before rising to his feet and they set off together with a shaky pace. 

Hunk is already at the fabric wall with his vet, who keeps clowning around, draping himself in different fabrics, and making outdated movie references. Hunk has a look about him like his patience is very thin, and when Shiro starts to laugh at Matt’s antics, unintentionally egging the man on, Hunk levels them both with an unamused stare.

Keith leaves Shiro to show off his heels to Matt and scurries over to Hunk’s side.

“How’s it going?” he asks in an undertone. Of course the mic strapped to his chest will still pick him up, but hopefully Matt and Shiro won’t.

Hunk takes approximately 5 deep breaths before he squeaks out “Fine. Just fine.”

“Your guy seems to have… personality.” Keith says it lightly, but Hunk belts out an ugly laugh that he immediately tries to squash in his hands.

“I don’t know what I was thinking, Anita. I’m a big girl, you know? I pad for the gods and the high heavens! What was I doing grabbing that tiny little stick thing over there?” As he gestures over, Matt is slipping a cargo-clad leg out from under a hideous green swath of fabric, making Shiro totter dangerously on his heels from laughter.

“I dunno. He still needs some curves and swerves, you’ll get him there.” Optimism is new to Keith, but it seems to work for Hunk.

“I guess… Hey, what about your guy, hmmm?”

Keith turns his back on Shiro and fixes Hunk with a hard stare. “I almost hate you. You paired me up with an Adonis that I’m going to have to touch all over, but not in any kind of fun way.”

That delights Hunk, and he snorts another ugly laugh, though this time he doesn’t bother to try and cover it. 

“You’re evil, missy,” Keith pretends to threaten Hunk with a pair of scissors and gives him the stink eye. “I want to climb that man like a pole. You can see his muscles _through_ his jacket.” Then Keith pitched his voice to sound low and catty, “He don’t look much like no woman, though. You shady bitch.”

They laugh a bit more until Matt helps cart Shiro over to see what the fuss is about. Both Hunk and Keith shrug noncommittally, then they part ways to get back to work.

Keith brings Shiro to a wall of black fabrics in various prints and materials and begins pulling out some choices. He finds one that’s black with a silver pattern that looks like claw marks cutting down the fabric and he pulls it around Shiro’s shoulders, checking the colours against his white forelock. 

“What about this, with a kind of an asymmetrical slit up the side?”

“Uhh,” Shiro says evasively.

“We could do, like a thin strap and a low cut back so when you take your jacket off you’re serving body-ody for days.”

Shiro hisses at that, and this time Keith can’t mistake the hesitancy.

He pulls back to look at Shiro’s face. “What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”

Shiro is looking everywhere except Keith’s face. He’s clearly uncomfortable with dissenting with Keith’s vision.

“Hey,” Keith grabs his attention by putting a hand over Shiro’s arm, “I’m not a tyrant. If you don’t think it’ll look good, just let me know. I want you to be confident in whatever I make.”

Shiro’s eyes lock on Keith’s then, and there’s more than simple disagreement within them.

“Uhh… Can we, can I? … Could we maybe sit?”

“Sure.” They stumble their way over to the couches that line the back walls where the girls usually sit for group challenges. It’s not very private, but during a challenge like this, no one’s paying them any attention.

When they sit, Shiro keeps hold of Keith’s hand and he squeezes it lightly like he needs the reassurance again. Keith returns the gesture.

“I maybe should have said before, but, I…” he takes a deep breath, “have this metal arm.”

Keith wasn’t expecting to have to sit down for a revelation so obvious, so he waits another moment for Shiro to explain what the actual problem is. Shiro seems to be watching Keith’s reaction like a hawk, but when none can be found, he moves on.

“I have some scars too. Well, obviously,” he gestures to his face, “but there’re a lot of scars. It’s kinda… it’s a horror show. My back especially. I actually almost didn’t come here because of it, but Matt convinced me to do it; he thought it might, I dunno, give me confidence, or something.” 

Shiro says it like confidence is something he doesn’t deserve to have anymore, and that lights a fire inside Keith like nothing ever has before.

“I think your designs are great,” Shiro continues, “and you’d be beautiful in them, but I’d just make it ugly.”

“Hey, no,” Keith lurches forward with a need to console the man before him. He stops himself just short of touching his face, a gesture too intimate for having known each other only an hour, and instead puts a hand over his collarbone. “You would never make it ugly. You’re gorgeous, and you’re going to make a beautiful woman.” Keith says the words with all the sincerity he can muster, and when he sees a tear drop from Shiro’s eyes he can’t stop himself from pulling the man into a hug. “Just you watch, Shiro, I’m going to make you the most beautiful queen in this goddamned room.”

Shiro sniffs and laughs, but Keith doesn’t let go until Shiro pulls away himself. He seems amazed when Keith has to wipe at his own eyes as well. 

“Come on,” Keith says with a deep and ugly sniff, “why don’t we go back to the drawing board and come up with something you’ll be proud to wear?”

They hammer out a design for a 40s bombshell ensemble. Shiro will wear a tight little cocktail dress in dark purple with a square neckline and short sleeves with a matching pair of long black gloves to cover most of Shiro’s arms. Keith will play the younger sister, in an A-line red and black sundress with a sweetheart cut. 

They’re just starting to gather their cut fabric and start laying out a pattern when Coran returns to the work room. And by the time Coran makes it over to their desk, Keith is pinning his first skirt together.

“Anita Screw, _how_ are you?” Coran asks exaggeratedly, playing up the rhyme just a little. 

“Fabulous, darling,” Keith says with a grandiose twist of his arm.

Coran looks around their station and paws lightly at the cut pieces of fabric along the table.

“Another _sewing_ challenge, eh? It’s not been your strong suit so far, has it? Not in the slightest, I’d say.”

Keith tries not to flounder under Coran’s cutting remarks. “Not yet, but this time I’m going to nail it.”

“I see. Now, is this what you’ve done so far?” The lilt to his voice shows that so far he’s not impressed. “You seem to be a ways behind the other girls.”

“A little,” Keith admits, settling over his table with wide splayed arms in a way that makes him feel more dominant. “We had to re-work my original idea a little bit to get it right, but now I’m all ready to rock and roll.”

“ _Oh_! Are these your designs?” Coran snatches the sketchbook directly off the table, not unlike a magpie. “Well, this _certainly_ isn’t your usual style, is it? Hmm?”  
The pressure is almost too real, but Keith refuses to buckle. “This is a style that will work better for the both of us.”

“Oh, I see, I see… will it now? Well… and you’re, uh… _confident_ you’ll get all this together in time?”

“I am.”

“Well, if you’re sure. Just make sure you wow me.”

Keith smiles at the challenge. “I will, Coran. Vrepit Sa.”

As one, the galran veterans return the chant across the workroom with a “Vrepit Sa!” of their own. Keith’s smile widens.

“And what about you, Shiro? Are you feeling confident with Anita’s designs?”

“I am.” Shiro’s voice showed no signs of any concerns or hesitancy, and Keith finds a great deal of relief in that. “Anita has got some amazing ideas and a lot of great talent. I just hope I don’t hold her back.”

Immediately, Keith rests a hand over Shiro’s, “Not a chance.”

Coran cocks his head at the sentiment, smelling the kind of emotional backstory his show is known for. “Oh? Now, _that_ surprises me a little. You almost sound down on yourself, but you’re a _gorgeous_ man. Almost as gorgeous as me: _Coran the Gorgeous Man_. Don’t tell me you’re doubting yourself.”

Shiro hesitates for half a tick, then sandwiches Keith’s hand between his own and presses onward. “I am doubting myself a little. I got pretty scarred up a few years back, and I’m still sort of learning how to be comfortable in my own body again.”

“I see. You know, one of the _great_ things about drag is all the ways you get to reinvent yourself, and find new ways to interpret your own body. Maybe this will help you find a new kind of confidence, and a _new_ way to love yourself.”

Shiro nods emphatically. “That’s why I’m so grateful to be partnered with Anita. Not only does she have tons of confidence that I’m hoping will rub off on myself, but she’s also been really great at listening to me and making sure I’m comfortable with everything.”

“And I see you’re already in heels?”

“Yes, ma’am. Now,” Shiro stands up and immediately tips backwards. A little hop and a jump, and a whole lot of waving his arms, saves him from falling, “I’m not very good yet, but we’re working on it.”

“Why don’t you give us a little walk?”

Shiro does his best to strut around the corner of the desk. He does better than he did a few hours ago, at least, though it’s not saying much. But he doesn’t fall, and that’s something.

“Hmm,” Coran says, clearly unimpressed, when Shiro returns to his seat.

“We’re working on it,” Shiro defends.

“He’ll get there, he’ll get there,” Keith assures him.

Coran seems to waver on that for a moment before cracking a smile. “Well that’s what we like to hear. Thank you, Shiro; thank you, Anita.”

“Thank you, Coran,” they say together.

The moment Coran turns away from the table, Keith start furiously pinning fabric together again. 

“Vrepit Sa?” Shiro asks with a cheeky grin, leaning over the table to catch Keith’s eye as he works.

Keith grins, though he only spares Shiro a momentary glance because his fingers are too busy pinning. “Yep. Vrepit Sa.”

“Where’d that come from?”

For a moment, Keith considers not answering. That’s his usual M.O. for intrusive questions, but Shiro has just admitted his body issues on pan-galatic tv, so probably Keith can answer a few questions.

“From my mom. I’m half-galran, actually. I know, I don’t look it – I guess I got my looks from my dad.”

“You guess?”

Again, Keith’s instinct is not to answer. This time it’s the soft tone and the look in Shiro’s eye that makes Keith want to open up.

Before he can, however, Coran draws their attention with a loud “Ladies!” He’s standing on the top of the stairs before he retreats for the day. “I almost forgot _one more_ thing. Tomorrow on the main stage, not _only_ will you be showcasing your Bombshell Realness couture. But you and your veterans will also be performing a _sexy_ strip tease to an instrumental version of my hit single ‘Gorgeous Wo-Man.’ So good luck and _don’t_ fuck it up!” With a wave, Coran is gone, and the spirit in the workroom plummets as they all internalize the news.

Shiro has gone rigid beside Keith, who turns just in time to see the panic brewing in Shiro’s eyes.

“Strip tease doesn’t mean naked,” Keith says quickly, still pinning fabric like his life depends on it.

“Sexy strip tease,” Shiro says with distaste.

Keith shrugs it off. “You don’t need to be naked to be sexy. We can do a nude illusion with a body suit and put it under your corset.”  
Shiro immediately perks up. “Yeah?”

Keith nods. “Yeah. Why don’t you take the scissors over to the wall and cut a few meters of whatever colour best matches your skin tone?” Shiro grabs the scissors and jumps from the seat like he’s been dying for something to do this whole time. “Careful when you walk!” Keith shouts over his shoulder. “Remember, it’s heel-toe, heel-toe, heel-toe!”

Keith can hear Shiro repeating “heel-toe” softly to himself as he clicks away to the fabric wall. Keith smiles to himself and shakes his head: what a man.

By the time Shiro returns, Keith already has his skirt sewn and he’s working on the top. The producers have brought them a discman that plays the instrumental version of Coran’s song, and they listen to that together while Keith pins the top.

Even in instrumental, the song is catchy as hell, and Keith finds himself nodding along to the beat as he goes. After the second or third run through, he notices Shiro is leaned over the table again, only this time he’s swinging his hips and his booty around in time with the music. 

“Do you dance at all, there, hot stuff?”

Shiro jumps to attention with a roaring “what?”

Keith chuckles. “Do you dance?”

“Not since prom, I don’t think.”

“What?” Keith feigns shock, “You’re not out there at the legion halls, sweeping men off their feet left and right?”

“Not me.”

“Not even once?”

“Nope. The only man I sweet off his feet is Atlas.”

“Oh?” Keith hopes that sounded more intrigued and less disappointed.

“Yup. My cat.”

They laugh at that, and Keith does his best to ignore the wave of relief to know Shiro’s single.

“What about you? Do you dance?”

Keith shrugs, as is his way, and pushes Shiro to the side with his hip to regain access to the sewing machine. “I’m not much of a dancer, but a strip tease, I can do.”

Even from the corner of his eye, Shiro’s blush looks bright. “I-I see.” They laugh again, and this time Shiro’s has a nervous energy that Keith finds electrifying. 

Once the top is most of the way sewn together, Keith sets it aside to start working on some choreography and showing Shiro how to walk like a woman.

“See, Shiro? Watch my ass.”

“Oh, I’m watching.”

Keith bites back a smile. “See how dramatic the swing is on the hips? You gotta be smooth, and graceful. Like you’re walking in lower gravity, except you’re not.”

“Like this?” Shiro walks a line with as much confidence as he can fake in one go.

“Much better!” Keith cat calls happily. “Shiro, you’ve got such a nice ass, you just gotta work it, honey!”

That catches the attention of the other girls in the room, and when Shiro next turns around he’s got 4 sets of drag queen eyes staring at him like he’s a piece of meat. Shiro blushes, but Hunk and Lance just start to clap, while Keith shouts more encouragement, and soon Shiro is strutting back and forth, pulling tight on his pants to show off the whole curve of his ass.

“Yaass, mama!” Lance cries. He slaps a hand over Keith’s shoulder before he returns to his vet, “good show, Anita. Thanks for sharing.”

Keith laughs as Lance and Lotor skip away. “You thirsty-ass hos!” He grabs at Hunk before he leaves, though, and pulls her a bit to the side. “Hunk, I might need your expertise.”

“What’s up?” Hunk’s voice is full of concern, though his eyes flash back to his own workstation, where he still has a ton of work left to do.

“It’s not big. I just have to make some big-ass pads for Shiro later, and I was hoping you can look them over once I’m done?”

Hunk’s face splits into a grin at that. “Of course, doll. Anything.”

Keith sighs with relief and pulls Hunk into a hug with a quick kiss on the cheek. “You’re the best!”

“Don’t I know it!” Hunk calls over her shoulder, already on her way back to her station.

Shiro agrees to stripping off his gloves for the strip tease on the condition that his body suit covers the whole of his chest and back, and then Keith succeeds in stripping him down to his t-shirt and giving him a set of gloves to practice with while they start to block out some choreography. 

They’re going to be the last group to practice on the main stage, so once they have some initial moves down, Shiro practices making glove-removal sexy while Keith returns to sewing their dresses. 

By the time they are called to the stage, Shiro is quite possibly the strongest vet in his heels, except for maybe Matt. It gives both Keith and Shiro a little boost of confidence to know that they’ll be the only team practicing their routine on the stage in heels.

That confidence dies very quick once they actually get on stage and Shiro slips enough times that they agree it’s best he take them off for now. 

“It’s ok,” Keith reassures Shiro as they both kick their heels off, “the thing that makes the runway shiny is what also makes it so slippery. We’ve all done it.”

“You slipped?”

Keith nods. “Our first run way. I had to lip sync for my life and I slipped on stage. I managed to turn it into a splits at the last second, and that’s about the only thing that saved me from elimination first round.”

“No!” Shiro’s genuine shock was more flattering than anything he could have said.

Keith nods dramatically and then helps Shiro back to his feet. 

Despite Shiro’s misleading hip control when leaning off the table, he turns out to be no dancer. He hits the beats most of the time, but he doesn’t remember choreography well, and he stumbles over himself more than can be passed off as part of their routine. 

It doesn’t help that any time they have to face each other, Shiro gets so distracted by what Keith’s doing he forgets his own moves entirely.

It’s incredibly frustrating and disheartening, but Keith tries not to let it show.

It’s hardly fair. The man’s sexy as hell, but not in a way that translates to corsets and feather boas. Not yet anyway. 

Their time on the stage feels over far too soon, but at the very least, Keith has drilled the main steps into Shiro’s head, so all he has to do now is practice repeatedly tonight in his room and they should be ok.

The moment they’re back in the work room Keith gets cutting and sewing together a quick and dirty body suit for Shiro. The fabric is extremely frustrating, however; it keeps catching on the machine and bunching together where it’s not supposed to. 

It’s enough to boil Keith’s blood, and not for the first time in the competition he considers demolishing his sewing machine. 

The workroom notices Keith’s deteriorating mood and goes quiet. They all know what’s coming, and they listen to the escalating grunts and aborted screams as he works himself into a rage. Keith can feel their judging looks over his back and it sets his even more on edge.

He knows he shouldn’t be doing this, he knows he should be better than this, but knowing that only raises his self-hatred, making him twice as likely to go off.

“Anita?” 

Shiro’s voice cuts through enough of the anger and bullshit in Keith’s mind to make him look up from where he’s desperately at the fabric trapped in the sewing machine.

“You ok?”

Shiro is standing close on Keith’s right, the opposite side than usual, blocking the rest of the workroom with his broad shoulders.

“This fabric keeps catching, and I need to get this done today so that you can paint it first thing tomorrow.” He can hear the whine of anger in his voice, but at least he’s not yelling. He almost counts that as a positive.

“Ok. You need this fabric out of here?”

Shiro’s voice is very calm and soothing. Keith takes a breath despite himself and rubs at his nose. 

“Mmm hmm,” he gives a quick nod.

“Ok.” Shiro wraps his metal hand around the fabric and pulls it free with a quick jerk. The needle breaks in half and goes flying with a faint pinging noise across the room. Shiro flinches as the sound. “Oh… can you fix that?”

Keith makes a noise that’s almost a laugh and sniffs some of his emotions away. “Yeah. I think so.”

“Ok.” Shiro’s human hand rubs gently down the length of Keith’s back, and it instantly relaxes him. It’s almost eerie how quickly his rage disappeared once Shiro stepped in beside him. “Is there another way you can put this together, that doesn’t involve you breaking studio equipment?”

“Glue gun. But, that might not hold. And I always end up covered in burns.”

“I won’t.” Shiro lifts his metal hand and flexes his fingers.

Keith thinks it over. “You’d have to be careful, if you flex too much it might blast apart.”

“You told me not to flex. You said drag queens don’t flex.”

“They don’t.” Some of the strength returns to Keith’s voice now, he sounds much less like a child having a temper tantrum. 

“Is this fabric salvageable? I could glue it while you sew the dresses.”

Keith nods at Shiro’s suggestion, then inspects the body suit. The seams he’s already sewed fall apart easily, it’s like half the stitch wasn’t catching from the start; likely, the damn thing would have been ruined with or without it bunching in the machine. Keith isn’t sure if that’s a relief or not.

He points Shiro in the direction of the hot glue gun and shows him where to glue. Then he changes the needle like Hunk showed him to during their first group challenge, and starts putting some of the details on Shiro’s dress. 

When it’s quitting time, Keith has Shiro’s dress all but finished, and has some of the pinning done on his own, while Shiro just has one leg left to glue together. They set their things aside for the next day, then follow their producers to their shuttle like a herd of docile kalterneckers. 

Keith loves this time of day, when the cameras are finally off him. It feels freeing, and he tries not to take it for granted. 

He sits next to Shiro on the shuttle to their hotel room. He takes a quick look around the bus, making sure everyone else is too zoned out to listen, then he leans in and says a quick, “thank you.”

Shiro shifts with a look like he doesn’t know what he’s being thanked for. 

“For being patient with me when I got mad. I know I’m not easy to handle when I get like that so – Thank you.”

The shuttle pulls into the hotel parking lot before Shiro can reply, so instead he reaches out a gives Keith’s hand a small squeeze before they’re both being shuffled off to their rooms. 

One of the assistants knocks on Keith’s door almost as soon as he’s into his room. 

“Yup,” he answers.

“Ok, you’re locked in,” they call through the door, and then he hears them move on to the next room.

Not that they’re actually locked in; it’s just a sticker over the door jamb so they know in the morning if Keith’s slipped out or not. Keith would think it’s ingenious if it hadn’t been done to him before. But that’s not something he likes to dwell on.

Especially not when he has choreography to rehearse and a new lip sync track to memorize for tomorrow’s elimination. 

Sure enough, the cd with tomorrow’s track is slipped under his door a few minutes later, and Keith pops it into his discman and starts rehearsing.


	2. Day 2: On the Main Stage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Shiro continue to prepare for the makeover challenge and then they present on the main stage. Keith does his best to channel all that sexual tension that's building between them into a win.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: The AMAZINGLY wonderful and talented [pejasposarambi](https://twitter.com/pejaposarambi) / [diococky](https://twitter.com/diococky) made an _incredible_ piece of Coran as a drag queen for this fic! <3 <3 I embedded it in the chapter, so you can't miss it!
> 
> If you don't follow this artist, I don't know what you're doing with your life. GO follow them! It's 1000% worth it!

The focus is palpable when they enter the room the next morning. There’s much less wasted energy on tossing around nonsense and a lot more getting straight down to business. The queens have one whole hour to themselves before their veterans return, and in that time Keith needs to finish Shiro’s dress, his own dress, and start on a hat for Shiro.

He works like a robot in a factory for that hour, and by the time Shiro wanders into the workroom Keith has both their dresses done and he’s adding on some black skull and crossbone buttons he salvaged from a costume he brought from home. 

“Is this mine?” Shiro gasps, touching the fabric reverently where it hangs on the mannequin. 

“It is.”

“It’s gorgeous! Can I?” He waits for Keith’s nod and then pulls the garment delicately off the mannequin. He holds it up to himself and spins in a fair approximation of an excited 11 year old girl. Then he smooths it down over his body and looks up with some concern in his eyes. “It’s too big. I thought you said it would be tight?”

Keith laughs. “It _will_ be tight. I promise. We just need to pad you first.” Keith finishes his last button then hops back from the table to grab some of the foam padding he piled on the floor the day before. “You see, I don’t usually pad, because my ass is nice and juicy all on its own…”

“Uh huh… yeah? Mm hmm…” Shiro’s voice sounds strained as he watches Keith bend over for the padding in today’s yoga pants ensemble. 

“… but with you,” Keith makes a noise as he snaps back up to attention, “you’re so broad we’re going to have a build an hourglass shape onto you.” 

Keith bounces close and holds one of the pads down against Shiro’s thigh. Shiro jumps back, bright red, and Keith can’t help but grin at his antics.

“You’re kind of a dork, aren’t you?” he asks jovially.

“Uhh… well…” Shiro scratches the back of his head.

“Relax, Shiro. It’s a compliment. All the best people are dorks.” He winks and Shiro turns a darker shade. “Now, we need to get you in your body suit so we know where to paint the cleavage lines and then I’ll get you to paint them on and finish gluing the leg together.”

“I’m on my last leg!” Shiro says in a desperate voice, then chuckles blandly at his own joke.

Keith stares at Shiro for a hard minute before bursting into laughter.

“See? Dork!” he says when he can finally speak.

The glue job on the body suit fits well enough to pass, though Keith gives Shiro one last warning about flexing.

Shiro finds he enjoys painting cleavage onto a body suit, though he checks in repeatedly with Keith to make sure he’s doing it right.

They joke around a lot as they work; the whole room is buzzing with energy as all the girls prepare for elimination day. 

“How’s it going over there, Anita?” Lance taunts from across the room.

Keith rolls his eyes, but bites back the mean comment he instinctively wants to hurl. They had just learned how to get along, and it turned out Lance did actually have a decent sense of humour hidden underneath those 40 pound wigs, so Keith doesn’t want to go straight back to sniping one another.

“Ohh, it’s coming along,” Keith shouts back, still hacking away at the hip pads with his scissors. “How ‘bout you?”

“I’m doing great, honey bear. I’m just sitting over here wondering whose dick you got to suck to get such an easy face to paint.” 

This time, Keith doesn’t bite back his response. He turns to Lance and gives a campy ‘fake sexy’ pose while he shouts, “Oh you know it was Hunk-alicious, baby! All night, every night!” He licks his lips while the majority of the room erupts in laughter. 

Shiro’s laughter is hesitant when Keith turns around, but it eases when Keith pulls a face that clearly states it’s not true.

“Heh, as if painting a galra face would even be much of a challenge for me. I can beat a purple face.” Keith pauses at that and looks to Shiro again. 

As a rule, Keith hates opening up; but opening up with Shiro yesterday had been really nice. And seeing the way Shiro had truly opened himself up made Keith want to try that kind of bravery for once.

“When I was little, I didn’t know my mom.” Shiro’s eyes fly to Keith’s, but meeting Shiro’s gaze is too much, so Keith ducks his head and focuses on his scissors. “The only thing dad said about her before he died was that she was galra and that I looked sorta like her. So when I was about 7, I painted myself purple, just to see what she would look like.” 

Keith’s voice shakes a bit, but he doesn’t cry. He is fully aware that Shiro has stopped painting his suit. His own hands pause over the pads and he has to force himself to drop the scissors before he accidentally ruins them with an errant snip.

“That was actually the first drag I used to do. When I was a teenager, I’d steal makeup from the stores to paint myself up to look galra.” 

They stand in silence for a long moment before Shiro breaks it.

“Keith, I –”

“No, it’s ok. You don’t have to say ‘sorry’ about it or anything. I’ve actually met my mother since then. We met when I was 18, she said she was looking for me.”

Shiro’s hand reaches out and covers Keith’s. They stare at each other and sniff for a moment before reality sinks in and Keith gets right back to carving those pads.

The pads get Hunk’s approval and then it’s time to start getting ready. First thing’s first is Shiro’s tuck.

“Alright, shoes off for this one mister, now get behind this screen, because it’s time to tuck!”

Tucking is a whole ordeal, and after nearly 3 minutes of grunting and the privacy screen nearly toppling over, Keith ducks behind the divider to lend a hand.

When he emerges a few minutes later, Keith’s eyes are wide and he looks overwhelmed. Hunk catches his eye and Keith fans himself dramatically.

“Gurl!” he says, and fakes a swoon. “You might have some competition for meatiest tuck!” 

Lance’s girly screams interrupts their laughter.

“My god! There’s not enough tape in the world!” The shock on Lance’s face when he emerges from his privacy screen is not faked. 

“What’s wrong, Vera? First encounter with galra cock?” Keith taunts.

Lotor and his galran veteran, Sendak, both look up and around with jagged looking grins.

“Galra dick too much for you to handle, Deara?” Lotor chimes in. 

Lance wags his finger around at the entire room, “Not too much for me, queens! But it _is_ too much for my tape.”

The queens continue to chirp at each other, but Keith’s attention is drawn back to his privacy screen, where one metal hand has stuck out the opening and is waving to him. Keith trots over and peeks in at Shiro.

He’s tucked and in flesh-coloured tights and a tight long-sleeved black shirt. It’s an odd look, but he’s working it.

“Perfect,” Keith gives him a curt nod, “now we just need the pads.” 

Keith has his fingers in the waistband of Shiro’s tights and the bottom edge of the pad sliding along his side before he realizes he hasn’t asked permission.

“Uhh… is this ok?”

He looks up at the same moment that Shiro looks down, and a slight tremor of shock mirrors through them both as their eyes meet. They’re very close to each other in here. And away from prying eyes.

“Yeah.” Shiro sounds almost like he’s out of breath. 

Keith shakes it off. He shoves the padding into the tights, then pokes and prods at Shiro’s legs until they look right. 

“Excellent! Now the body suit.” Keith runs out and returns with the suit and the corset they selected for Shiro.

Shiro steps into the body suit and slides it easily up over his pads, but once it’s up over his hips he stalls. His fingers pry at the end of his black shirt, but rather than pulling it up and over his head, he just worries the fabric between his finger.

“Oh, right. Want me to step out?” Keith asks, realizing the reason for Shiro’s hesitancy. He doesn’t want to bear all his scars for Keith.

“Uhh…” Shiro takes a deep breath, and before Keith can step out he lifts his shirt off and tosses it to the floor.

Shiro in the flesh is more than Keith could have hoped for. He doesn’t have much time to admire the bulging plains of scarred skin before the body suit is up and in place, but it’s long enough for the image to settle in the back of Keith’s mind for later review. 

Shiro avoids eye contact as Keith steps forward with the corset, so Keith moves directly in front of him and pins him with a hard look. 

“Shiro, you have nothing to be ashamed of. Honestly. Nothing.” 

They stare each other down for a long moment before Shiro finally nods and Keith wraps the corset around him.

“Oh,” Shiro says when Keith does the first few snaps.

“Too tight?”

“N-no.” 

There’s something in his voice that makes Keith look up.

Shiro is checking himself out in the mirror with a deep blush that Keith is starting to recognize as a very good sign. 

“Christ! You don’t even need padding.” It takes everything Keith has not to squeeze his hands over Shiro’s massive pecs. They’re beautiful, large enough to be titties on their own. “It looks good,” he says, mouth a little dry. 

It’d look better without the slight bunching of the body suit along the line of the corset, but it is what it is. He quickly snaps Shiro in and then steps back so that Shiro can admire himself fully in the mirror.

“It… does…” he sounds equal parts shocked and enamoured with himself. 

He turns and catches all his angles in the mirror. 

“Yas! Werk it, Ivanka!” Keith says with a snap of his fingers, but Shiro doesn’t play along. Instead, he starts to frown at himself and pick at the body suit where it bunches in the back just a little.

“Would it look better without the body suit?”

He asks it simply enough, like it’s not a loaded question. But Keith knows that it is, and he hesitates with his answer.

“It would,” he equivocates, “but this doesn’t look bad. You’d be hot either way.” He can see the gears turning in Shiro’s head as he twists in the mirror again. “It’s up to you, boo. Did you want to try it, just us, and see how it feels?”

Shiro shoots Keith a horrified look, like he’s just realized what he himself is getting at. His eyes drift back to the mirror, though, and he automatically pulls at the body suit again. 

“Yeah.” He quickly unbuckles the corset and hands it back to Keith. He rolls the body suit down his body and kicks it off. 

When he straightens, Keith is face to face with the whole expanse of torn skin and tight muscle. It’s manly in a way Keith has never encountered or considered before, and breathtaking in a way that maps out very specific pain for Shiro.

Keith tells himself not to stare, but he doesn’t think he really succeeds. Honestly, Shiro is breathtaking; and that’s got nothing to do with Keith’s current celibacy.

He wraps the corset around Shiro and does the first few snaps. Shiro’s breath hitches again, only this time it’s more palpable. Keith is far too aware of his fingertips this time around, and of the warm expansion of Shiro’s chest with each breath. 

Keith narrows his focus to the task at hand and tugs the corset tighter than before.

“Ugh,” Shiro makes a small punched-out sound as the fabric constricts around him. “That’s good,” he breathes before Keith can even ask.

Hoo boy!

Keith’s next breath shakes on his inhale, and he has to hold it to the count of 4 to still the pounding in his chest. 

The last snaps click into place and the back of Keith’s fingers draw briefly along Shiro’s navel. Keith looks up and all he can see is the way Shiro is looking down at him.

His lips are parted just so; just begging to be kissed. Keith’s own lips beg to do it, and for a long heartbeat Keith thinks he’s going to do it.

But then he remembers where he is: literally the most important competition of his life. Keith steps back.

The moment shatters around them.

“What do you think?”

Shiro blinks at himself a few times before he seems able to take it in. 

“I think… I’m hot.”

Keith laughs at Shiro’s sudden confidence.

“You are that.” He looks Shiro over critically. “Do you think you’d be ok like this? We’d have to paint on a few more curves on you.”

“I like this better, but…. There’s a lot of me on display. I’m not sure how I feel about it…” 

Keith pouts as he thinks and taps at his lips with a finger. “I like you just like this. But I could cover you up with makeup. It won’t cover the biggest ones, but it’ll hide most of the scars.”

Shiro twists, and his back is far more scarred than his front. 

“Yeah. Makeup. Yeah.” Shiro sounds like he’s trying to convince himself.

“It’s up to you. If the body suit is what you want to do, we will make it work.”

Shiro’s indecision solidifies into determination as he looks himself over one last time. “No. I want the makeup. I’ve never looked so hot in my life.”

Keith chuckles. “Now, I know that’s a lie. But you do look hot as shit.”

Shiro grabs Keith’s hand and clings for support as they walk out together into the workroom. Keith sits Shiro down at his vanity and starts with Shiro’s chest and back.

Shiro sit patiently as Keith works, alternating between watching Keith and watching the rest of the room.

“I notice, you don’t seem to interact with the other queens the way they do. They’re all shouting at each other and everything.”

Lotor happens to strut past with Sendak in tow just then and says, “That’s because miss thang over here thinks she’s better than all of us.”

Keith shrugs, giving only a cursory glance at the drive-by shade. 

“That can’t be it,” Shiro says earnestly, in a voice low enough for only Keith and the microphones. 

Keith shakes it off and starts putting down a primer on Shiro’s face. “I just don’t fit in with a lot of these queens. My style’s very sharp, very weird, and I’m…” he pauses under the guise of reaching for more makeup, but it’s really to get a hold of his voice, “I’m very sharp and weird too. But, I get it. I don’t get along with a lot of people. That’s why I’m so glad I have Hunk-alicious here to be my friend.” Keith sweeps primer along Shiro’s cheekbones and can’t help when his gaze gets caught up in Shiro’s. “I’m glad I got partnered with you, too.”

Keith smiles, and Shiro looks up at with him absolute wonder. They hold the look for a tick longer than they should – 2 ticks, maybe – and then Keith pulls away to start grabbing at foundations and blushes and bronzers. 

“I don’t think you’re sharp or weird. I think you’re amazingly talented and I think they might see that too. That’s why they’re jealous.”

Keith scoffs. “Jealous? I almost went home the first challenge.”

Shiro raises an eyebrow, “And now you’re on, what, challenge 8?”

“10,” Keith chuckles.

“My point exactly. You deserve to be here, Keith.” This time, Shiro breaks their gaze just before they get lost in it. “Now, make me beautiful so we can curb stomp these queens!”

“Okay, okay, okay!” Keith snaps and clacks his tongue, then gets to work in earnest on Shiro’s face. 

Keith can feel Shiro’s eyes on him as he brushes blush across his cheekbones. The look runs under his skin like electricity and it’s a miracle he keeps his hands steady as he works. 

“You’re beautiful,” Shiro says so quietly that Keith doesn’t think he meant to say it. 

They both heat with embarrassment and Keith’s hands freeze as the words hang between them. Keith’s mouth works to try and come up with a response, but Shiro takes away the need.

“I’m sorry!” he laughs nervously, “that just came out! I didn’t mean – I don’t – well, you are beautiful but…”

“Shiro, Shiro, it’s fine.”

“I didn’t mean to make it weird.” He sounds almost defeated, and Keith doesn’t miss the way he sinks into himself.

Keith tilts Shiro’s chin up and resumes applying his blush. “You didn’t make it weird. Every girl love hearing she’s beautiful; especially drag queens.”

Shiro offers a small smile and they fall into silence.

It doesn’t last long, however. 

“You know, whenever I watch the show, I always thought it was weird how all the secrets and the real conversations come up when you’re painting your faces. I kind of thought it was staged, but it really isn’t, is it?”

“Nope,” Keith agrees blithely. “There’s something about putting on makeup that brings it out of us. Especially when you’re doing someone else’s.”

Keith tilts Shiro’s chin to the side to inspect his job so far.

“It’s… intimate,” Shiro suggests. 

Keith’s thumb tightens its grip on his chin for a moment before pulling away entirely. He doesn’t say anything, but his answer is clear on his face as he turns away.

Powering through their growing awkwardness, Keith starts to narrate his makeup application for Shiro.

“Usually I’d use warmer colours, to bring out the blues in your eyes,” Keith says once he gets to the eyeshadow. “But they’re such a stunning shade of grey, I want to highlight their colour with a more metallic smoky eye.”

“Stunning, huh?” Shiro asks quietly, frowning a little. “You’re really making me question the way I look at myself, Anita.”

Keith steps back with a hand to his hip before moving to the other eye. “Good,” he says firmly. “You’re gorgeous, Shiro, and you deserve to know it.”

Shiro chuckles, then. “You should have seen me before; I used to think I was king shit of turd island.”

“Oh yeah? You were hot stuff, were you?”

“I thought so. You can ask Matt; I was obnoxiously overconfident when I was young. But ever since the accident…” his pause is pregnant with churning emotion, and Keith finds himself holding his breath as he waits for Shiro to continue. “I couldn’t even look in the mirror for a long time. I completely let myself go.”

“I’ll bet,” Keith says with an ironic raise of his eyebrows and a poignant glance to Shiro’s bulky muscles. It earns him a small breath of a laugh from Shiro.

“No, I really did. Long, scraggily hair, scruffy gross beard.”

“Hot.”

Shiro smiles and lets Keith’s comment dissolve before he returns to his serious discussion. “I didn’t take care of myself for a long time. It’s only in the last year that I’ve felt like myself in my own skin again. But I never thought I could feel confident in my appearance again. I never thought I could feel sexy…”

“And now?”

Shiro runs a thumb over the stretched lace of his corset and gives Keith a crooked smile. “Now I think I might.”

“Good, because you’re sexy as hell. And once I’m done beating this face, you’re going to gag over yourself.”

Shiro’s grin is bright and genuine at that. “I can’t wait.”

Keith returns to work. He’s quiet while a thought circles his head. He considers it for a long time before he finally decides to bring it to Shiro.

“Shiro… there’s something I want to do with your makeup, but I won’t do it without your permission.”

“What is it?” When Keith hesitates, Shiro adds, “I trust you, Keith.”

“Well, drag makeup is so thick, it completely hides the scar over your nose. And I just think that’s such a shame. It adds character to your face; it’s a part of who you are and where you’ve been…. I was wondering if you’d let me draw it back in.”

Shiro’s jaw drops and he doesn’t offer any answer for a long enough length of time that Keith begins to panic he’s offended the handsome vet.

“I really don’t have to. It’s just you’re so beautiful with it, and I’d hate for you to think that you have to hide all your scars just to be beautiful. And…”

“Ok…”

They both seem equally surprised by Shiro’s answer.

“Ok, do it,” he says a moment later, more confident this time.

“You’re sure.”

Shiro nods. “Like I said; I trust you. If you think I’m beautiful with it, then I think I want to see it too. I want to see it the way you do.”

Keith’s smile is sweet and glowing. He grabs a light coloured lip liner and quickly draws the scar back in.

He gives Shiro a thorough inspection before he finally nods and hands Shiro a mirror.

Shiro’s jaw drops again when he sees himself in the mirror and he almost immediately tears up. Keith is quick with the tissue before any tears can ruin the job he’s just finished. 

“Don’t you dare smudge me, mister,” he joke threatens. He’s rewarded by a hiccupping laugh from Shiro.

“I love it, Keith. I look… wow… I don’t even have the words! Are you sure that’s me?” 

They both laugh and Keith reassures him that’s him. He gets Shiro’s official approval before thoroughly dousing him in a setting spray to keep his makeup in place.

Once that’s done, Keith starts getting himself ready while Shiro gets into his gloves and the rest of his strip tease outfit. 

“Huuuunk!” Keith calls once it’s corset time. 

Keith stands wide-legged before his table and braces himself over the tabletop while Hunk sidles up behind him and takes him by the laces. 

Keith isn’t padded, he’s just tucked so tight he can taste his balls, and wearing a tiny little glitter-thong. His ass is perfect, perky and round, especially at this angle. His corset is all black with blood red laces, and the look is hot enough with it just resting over his body, but Keith doesn’t want to be just ‘hot enough.’

Shiro’s eyes widen with every inch Hunk tightens out of Keith’s waist, and Keith can’t look at him because it makes him want to laugh. Both he and Hunk grunt with each pull of the laces, and Keith wonders exactly how this looks from Shiro’s angle.

“How’s that?”

Keith stands straight and moves around a bit. It’s perfect for a runway, but Keith’s got to dance, so he gets Hunk to loosen it by half an inch. 

“How’s it look?” Keith turns to Shiro, who only manages a string of unrelated, stuttered syllables as a response. “Dork,” he says fondly, before thanking Hunk for his help. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

The music plays over the main stage and the lights swivel to light up Coran. She walks tall and proud down the runway in an army green mermaid-cut dress. Her hair is swept back from her face and runs in long red curls down her back. 

She looks and moves like a dream, her signature mustache gleaming under the stage lights. 

She stops at dead centre stage as the music flares around her and the judges all clap from their seats on the panel.

“ _Welcome_ to the main stage of _Co_ ran’s Drag race! Forever my first mate: it’s Allura!”

“Hello, sailor!” Allura replies. She’s wearing a little sailor outfit, with her hair in two victory rolls tucked back into a blue and white sailor’s cap. 

“And the always hilarious: Bi Boh Bi! How’re you doing tonight?”

Bi Boh Bi is looking dapper in a smart black suit and tie. “Bi boh, _bi_ bi, boh bi bi!” he says, shamelessly.

“Oh stop!” Coran waves a hand at him to keep going.

“Boh bi boh!”

“You’re making me _blush_!” Coran covers his face as if he’s really blushing, then returns to the judges’ introductions. “And tonight we are joined by fashion designer, Ryner of the Olkari. Are you excited to see my girls?”

“Oh, Coran, I’m so excited, I can barely contain myself,” Ryner says pleasantly. She’s stunning in a Ryner original robes.

“And _finally_ , world class comedian: Pidge Holt! How you doing, baby?”

“I am ready to _read_ these bitches, Coran! Bring ‘em on!” Pidge cackles and shrugs more comfortably into her army bomber jacket.

Coran laughs with Pidge. 

“Alright, lets roll out the troops. _Gentlemen_ , start your engines, and let the best woman –” Coran raises his arm high over head, “– win!”

The first two strip teases are mediocre at best, and not worth the energy to describe.

“Up next is Lotor/Lotoria and Sendaktra,” Coran introduces.

Lotoria tried to hide Sendaktra’s jerky, awkward, and generally unsexy dancing by giving them platinum corsets and antenna and rocking a robotic strip tease. It’s a solid effort, but it doesn’t mask the anger behind Sendaktra’s stomping steps, or the violent movements of her arms. When they’re supposed to pull their gloves seductively off their arms, Sendaktra yanks hers off and smacks Lotoria in the chest so hard she almost goes flying.

“Next is the delicious Hunk-alicious and Matty-cakes!”

Hunk-alicious swerves onto the stage in a brilliant yellow and black stripped outfit with a skirt that hides a stinger. Matty-cakes follows a step behind in a flowery pink and purple ensemble. Matt-cakes aces the drag attitude; she pounds the runway with sway and swagger, and camps up the bit when Hunk-alicious rips the flower skirt from her waist piece by piece. They do get a little lost in their choreography, but Hunk-alicious manages to salvage it.

“Vera Deara and Debbie Zaal!”

Vera and Debbie come onto the stage with big ideas. Debbie is in a skimpy sailor dress with Vera cradled in her arms in a mermaid outfit. Debbie carries Vera all the way up to the front of the stage, stepping as close to the beat of the music as she can. They fumble on the dismount, but once Vera is on her feet she rips the tail from her legs and the energy of the piece blasts to 11. Vera dances circles around Debbie, striping them both out of their clothes in what is clearly a mermaid seduction. 

“And last, but not least, Anita and Ivanka Screw!”

Anita and Ivanka come out arm in arm, and walk together in a cross-step that looks good but is actually quite easy. They don’t have a theme or a story like the other girls so. They’re just looking sexy in black, with hints of red and purple, respectively. Ivanka moves with confidence, and shakes her ass pads like she was born with them. Their dance is simple but sexy; and they keep eyes on each other to stay in sync. It’s made sexier because they play it up for each other, and Anita lets their low-burning sexual tension fuel her performance. 

“Thank you ladies. And _now_ for the runways. Category is: _Bombshell Realness_!”

The music plays as the first two groups do their round on the runway. Their looks are perfectly fine.

Lotoria and Sendaktra come out next. Lotoria looks like she’s jumped straight out of a 40s fashion magazine. She’s looking glamourous in a black dress reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe’s famous dress, and she has her signature white wig coiffed and slicked into big, soft curls. Beside her, Sendaktra is Lotoria’s reversal. Sendaktra is in a tight white dress that’s sadly lumpy at the hips. Her hair is big, black, and helmet-y. Her makeup is severe, as is the stink eye she gives the judges.

“Oh! Boop-boop be _doop_!” Coran says when Lotoria gives a flirty little kick-step.

“They look like Marilyn and Elvira had twins,” Pidge jokes.

Hunk-alicious and Matty-cakes serve metal-worker realness in grey and green matching work suits. Hunk-alicious’s hair is big and wrapped in bandana, while Matty-cakes’s hair gathers in a braid from the top of her head all the way down past her waist. She swings her hair around her as they turn and Hunk-alicious flexes for the judges before leaving the stage.

“Oh! She _can_ do it!” Allura says.

“Bi Boh bi bi _bi_!” 

Vera Deara and Debbie Zaal follow. They’re in different shades of blue dresses that cling to their bodies, though the tight stretch of the fabric does little to hide Debbie’s box-like figure. A dyed blue fur collar follows the neckline of Vera’s dress, and a similar fur muff encircles Debbie’s hands. Debbie doesn’t quite know how to move in high heels with her hands held together under the muff, and she swings here arms extra wide to compensate for her balance as she does her best to stomp the runway. 

“Oh _yess_! I _dream_ of Jaynes Mansfield!” Coran says happily.

“They’re really taking those kittens for a walk,” Allura says as Vera does a fancy foot shuffle down the run way.

“They really _blue_ my mind,” Pidge says.

Anita and Ivanka are the last ones out. Ivanka leads the way, looking confident and powerful as she sways down the runway. Anita follows behind her in a peppy and excitable walk, mimicking everything Ivanka does, just like an eager little sister. Even when Ivanka stumbles in her heels, Anita follows behind and fakes an even bigger stumble, like that’s what they both intended to do. The camp pays off and gets a laugh from the judges.

“This is a _real_ sister act!” Coran laughs.

“Hey mister, she’s my sister,” Allura adds. 

Once the runways are finished, the top 6 and their veterans line up on stage to face the judges.

“Thank you ladies,” Coran says, once they’re all in line. She waits a needlessly dramatic amount of time, building the tension of the moment, before she speaks again. “Lotor/Lotoria, Hunk-alicious, Vera Deara, and Anita Screw, please step forward.” The queens take a sharp step forward in unison and their veterans follow a tick later.

“Ladies, tonight you represent the _tops_ and the _bottoms_ of the week. The other girls: you’re safe.” The other girls say a quick thank you and leave the stage. “ _Now_ it’s time for the judges’ critiques, starting with Lotoria. Now, do I call you Lotor or Lo _tor_ ia?” Coran asks, smiling at her personalized tagline for Lotoria.

“You can call me whatever you want, mama.”

They show a side-by-side comparison of Sendaktra before and after the makeover, then jump into the review. 

Allura starts, as she usually does. “First off, I want to start with your runway look, because what you did tonight is almost criminal.”

Allura circles all of Lotoria and Sendaktra with the end of her pen. Lotoria looks shocked at the news; she tries to school her face, but her eyes crinkle at the sides in a light glare as Allura continues.

“Look at you, you look gorgeous and your drag sister, Sendaktra? She’s a mess. What were you doing back there? Her padding’s lumpy, her makeup’s uneven.” Allura levels Lotoria a sharp look when it looks like she’s going to retort. “ _Gurl_ , you would die before you went on stage looking like that. You can’t send Sendaktra out here like your janky half-sister you not-so-secretly hate. I get what you were trying to do here with the alternating white and black; but she looks like your opposite, and not in a good way.”

Lotoria nods and says nothing, but she continues to look pissed. 

Pidge speaks up next. 

“For your runway look I had pretty much the same as Allura. For the strip tease… I like what you tried to do with your robot theme, I think that was a smart move. Unfortunately, I found the dance to be pretty basic until the end when Sendaktra nearly threw you to the ground. So, it kind of stood out for the wrong reasons to me.”

“Bi boh! Bi bi boh bi boh, bi boh boh bi-bi. Bi bi, bi bi, boh. Boh! Bi boh!” Bi Boh Bi disagrees. “Boh bi _bi_ , bi bi-boh boh.”

“Thank you,” Lotoria says, smugly, before the judges turn their focus on Hunk-alicious.

“Now for the delicious Hunk-alicious. Are you _hungry_ , baby?”

“Starvin’ mama!” Hunk says, with a shimmy that makes everyone laugh. 

They show the comparison pictures and then Ryner starts Hunk-alicious’s review.

“I really like your runway look tonight. Let me tell you, manual labour never looked so good. I’m especially impressed with how feminine these look when they are – essentially – work coveralls. It’s very well executed, with the hair, and the rags. You got all the details right.”

Hunk-alicious mouths a ‘thank you’ and blows Ryner a kiss.

“For your strip tease,” Allura says, “I thought it was cute. You had the whole thing with the flowers and the bumble bee thing going on. You fumbled it a little bit, but overall it was good. You know… did it wow me the way you usually do? I don’t think so. But it was a strong performance today. I just want to make sure you’re not resting on your past wins, because the competition is getting _intense_ and you can’t afford to lose that fire now.”

Hunk-alicious nods along enthusiastically. 

“No, ma’am. I’ll bring it. I will show you that fire.”

“Good,” Coran says, “ _that’s_ what we want to see. And _not just_ from Hunk-alicious.” Coran’s eyes sweep imperiously over all the queens before her. “Up next is Vera Deara. _Hola_ Vera.”

“Holaaa!” Vera says happily. “Hola, Allura,” she adds with a wink. Allura replies with a chuckle and an eye roll, nothing more.

“Your strip tease,” Pidge starts. “It started really slow. Like, really slow. Like _really_. Slow. I think if she had put you down earlier you would have landed the joke properly instead of dragging it out the way you did. It just killed the energy right off the bat. You picked it up in the end, but it’s a hard recovery after so much dead time.”

“Yeah, but once you got going: wow!” Ryner says, with a jazz-hand-like flourish. “I could watch you dance all day. For the strip tease, I didn’t love the mermaid outfit. You actually did the opposite of your friend over here,” she gestures to Lotoria, “I thought your makeover sister, Debbie, looked much better in that cute little sailor’s outfit. And these outfits here, these are wonderful. Maybe a little heavy on the blue, but that’s just me.”

“I like the blue,” Allura argues, “you picked good shades. They draw out your eyes, and the blue you picked for Debbie works really well with her skin. My issue is her makeup. You’ve never done makeup for a galran before, have you?”

“I haven’t,” Vera admits.

“I can tell.” Allura doesn’t say anything else, but she doesn’t have to. The comment hangs in the air, making everyone squirm.

“Ok, _thank_ you Vera,” Coran says.

“Thank you.”

“Ok, and lastly: _Anita Screw_. Now, Anita, do you need anything?”

“I always need something from you, Coran,” Anita says with a wink.

As Ryner starts her review, Anita’s hand slips over into Ivanka’s and they hold on tight. 

“I really liked what you did adding the white stripe to Ivanka’s wig. It’s a nice touch, and now that I see the comparison pictures I like it even more, because you’re working with your sister here, instead of just making her up in your own image. You really do look like sisters, rather than carbon copies of each other.”

“I agree,” Allura adds, “and I can tell you’ve kept some of your own flair in there, with your skull buttons. You’re really hitting all the little details today, and I appreciate that. Your strip tease was _hot_! You’re the only one that went full-sexy instead of camp. I think you saved all your camp for the runway, and that was a really smart decision. You did a good job tonight of turning all your weaknesses into strengths, and I’m really proud of you.”

“Thank you,” Anita says.

“Now, before we deliberate… Ivanka. _Yesterday_ , you were nervous to show some skin on the main stage. How do you feel now?”

“I feel sexy, Coran. This is amazing!” She shakes Anita’s hand, still held in her own. “I never thought that I could look – or feel – like this. Not in a million years. What you guys have shown me, especially Anita, this is something…” her voice cracks and she grabs a tissue from her cleavage to dab at her eyes, “it’s so special. I’m never going to forget this.”

She turns and Anita immediately wraps her in a hug, whispering something in her ear.

“Ivanka, you _are_ beautiful. All of my girls are beautiful and _fierce_!”

The queens all join in a chorus of “yes” and “yas” and snap their fingers.

“Thank you _so much_ for joining us here and sharing your beauty with us, Ivanka.” Coran’s voice is smooth and sincere. She lets the emotions hang for a moment before she changes gears. “Thank you ladies. It’s _time_ for you to untuck in the holodeck lounge while the judges and I deliberate.”

As they walk out, Ivanka stage whispers to Anita, “Do we really untuck?”

“Not yet,” Anita whispers back in an amused tone.

The judges deliberate for a long time, discussing the pros and cons of each performance. They bicker, and laugh, and raise their voices until finally Coran throws her arms out and shouts “ _Silence_! Bring back my girls.”

The queens leave their veterans behind with their drinks in the holodeck lounge. They march down the runway and line up once again.

“Welcome back, ladies,” Coran says upon their return, “At this point of the game, everything is so close. It has _not_ been easy, but I’ve made my decision.” She looks at each queen in turn, “Anita Screw, your sister act had us _singing_. Vera Deara, your runway made a _big splash_ , but in your strip tease, you were _out_ of your depths. Lotoria, tonight your look was ahead of your time, but you left your _sister_ back in the dark ages. Hunk-alicious, tonight you were the _bee’s knees_.”

Coran pauses as the lights change overhead and the music flares dramatically. She waits and waits, until the queens feel like they’re about to explode from the suspense.

“ _Anita_ Screw. Condragulations, you’re the winner of this challenge. You _and_ your sister Ivanka both won a 3 night all-expenses paid trip to beach planet Delta 6.”

Anita’s face goes wide and bright with surprise and excitement, and she covers her face with her hands. 

“Thank you, Coran!” she says with a wink and a little kink of her heels before she moves to the back of the stage.

“Hunk-alicious. You are safe.”

“Thank you.”

The music turns ominous and the lightning changes as Hunk-alicious takes her place at the back of the stage.

“Lotor/Lotoria. Vera Deara. I’m sorry my dears, but that means you are up for elimination.” She pauses to give the queens a moment to absorb the information. “Ladies, this is your _last chance_ to impress me and _save,_ yourself _from elimination_. The time has come for you to lip sync. _For. Your. Life _! Good luck, and _don’t_ fuck it up.”__

__The music cues up and the queens take their places. They both know the song inside and out, and they give it their all. But all things being equal between these two queens, Vera still has an edge because she can dance circles around Lotoria. And she does._ _

__Vera throws everything she has into her performance. She dances, she flips, she gives a death drop that leaves the judges gagging, and her lip syncing does not miss a beat. Lotoria does her best to keep up, pulls out her best moves, but she lacks emotion._ _

__In the end, Coran says “Vera Deara; shantay you stay.”_ _

__Vera immediately moves to give Lotoria a hug, but Lotoria shrugs it off._ _

__“Lotor/Lotoria. You are one fierce queen, and don’t let anyone ever tell you different. But now it’s time to _sashay away_.”_ _

__Lotoria sways his way to the end of the runway, then turns back, dramatically. “See you, bitches!” she says with a wave. She leaves to write a message on the mirror while the other queens return to the main stage with their sisters to dance._ _

__As the cameras pan away and the girls run off the stage, Anita and Ivanka run off hand in hand._ _

__~*~*~*~*~*~*~_ _

__Three months later: Keith is sitting on set with Coran and all 13 queens for the reunion episode. They’ve just watched a series of clips of Vera Deara and they are all chiming in on her propensity to flirt with every single person she meets. Vera tries half-heartedly to defend herself, but no one buys that she’s “just friendly.”_ _

__“Girl please,” Keith says with a flick on his wrist, “you couldn’t step within 3 feet of Hunk-alicious without saying something embarrassing.”_ _

__“Well _yeah_!” Lance exclaims. “Have you _seen_ her?! I’m only a man!” he pauses like he’s just heard what he said, “… in a dress.”_ _

__They howl with laughter._ _

__“Speaking of…” Coran says, with a mischievous glint in her eye, “ _Anita_ Screw. How have things been with you since becoming top three? Anything you want to _share_ with the class?” She raises her eyebrow at Keith, who takes the question at face value._ _

__“Life has been amazing since making top three, Coran. I’ve been travelling all around the milky way doing shows and meeting these amazing people. It’s really been incredible. I never thought I’d have such an opportunity to touch people.”_ _

__“It’s funny you say that,” Coran says, digging a little harder. “You were critiqued for not opening up and showing us your charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent. But after the _makeover episode_ you really started to bear it all for us. What was _special_ about that challenge?”_ _

__The girls twitter around him, and some lean in to hear Keith’s answer._ _

__“I tend to be a very private person. I don’t really open up to anyone, but once I opened up that little bit and saw that no one’s going to come after me it was easier for me to drop that guard and really show you and the judges what you were asking for.”_ _

__Keith notices the disappointed reaction from the other girls at his straight-forward answer, but he doesn’t understand it._ _

__Lances levels Keith with a very flat look, “Gurl.”_ _

__“What?”_ _

__“Did you jump on that fine-ass veteran?!” Lance yells impatiently._ _

__“Oh.” Keith blushes a deep shade of red while Coran and the girls laugh hysterically at Lance’s crudeness. “Shiro and I have been seeing each other…” He pauses while the girls hoot and cheer. “We’ve been together for 2 and a half months now, give or take…”_ _

__“Hey _wait_ now!” Coran says, sounding shocked, “we only finished filming 2 months ago!”_ _

__Keith pulls a face and wavers his hand in a ‘kinda’ gesture. “I said give or take!” He laughs._ _

__“So how _did_ you get together?”_ _

__“Well we would’a got together sooner but you took my damn phone! Shiro’s really cute though. I snuck my number into his pants pocket–” the girls begin to howl again, and Keith waves to try and calm them down. “– He wasn’t wearing them, you animals! No, I slipped it into his pocket when he was busy trying to scrub all that makeup off. It was actually really sweet, because when I finally got my phone back, it was full of messages from him cheering me on.”_ _

__“Aww!” Coran says sweetly, “he sounds like a stalker, how adorable,” she jokes._ _

__Keith nods, “a little bit,” she agrees, laughing. “but, no, it was really sweet.”_ _

__“And what’s he like in bed?” Lance says crudely._ _

__“Vera!!” Hunk cries in shock._ _

__“How _dare_ you! Rude!” Keith says, but at the same moment he holds two fingers out roughly a foot apart and then gives Lance a wink, two thumbs up, and a short, smug nod._ _

__They laugh again._ _

__“ _Thank_ you, Anita,” Coran says, ending the discussion and turning to some of the other girls._ _

__A week later, Anita, Vera, and Hunk-alicious stand together on the main stage and Hunk-alicious is crowned the Galaxy’s Next Drag Superstar._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: In case you missed it, the art in this chapter was made by the outstanding [pejasposarambi](https://twitter.com/pejaposarambi) / [diococky](https://twitter.com/diococky) and you should all go follow them and shower them with the praise they deserve!
> 
> OMG! I had to do way more research for this fic than usual. I know NOTHING about makeup or fashion! I literally had to ask my GBF what to google so I could come up with some of the outfits, ha ha ha! 
> 
> Also, Please GOD someone draw me an unhappy Kolivan in a sailor's dress. PLEASE!!!!
> 
> So, I know in the makeover challenge they don't actually have to sew their whole outfit, but this was already half-written when I remembered that and I just went with it.
> 
> I hope someone caught that little "bend and snap" moment of Keith's because it fills me with joy.
> 
> I'd also like to add a touch of Sharon Needles to my description of Keith's style. Adore meets Sharon Needles. Also, Shiro is a total Kameron Michaels, but with a hint of Eureka (hear me out!)... Like, Eureka's extreme hip padding plus Kameron's girly-meets-manly aesthetic. 
> 
> I hope you all appreciate how I have not named or described the other 2 contestants or their makeover partners. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Extra: Coran's Drag Race Season 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro's competing on Drag Race now and it's his turn for the makeover challenge, but he's got a surprise waiting for him on the main stage!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't going to write this section at all. Like, at all. My plan was to just write this out as 3 sentences in the end notes of the last chapter, but then I got editing the fic and fell back in love with Shiro and Keith and this happened instead, lol.
> 
> It's not long, but I hope you enjoy. ^-^

Two years later and Shiro is back on Coran’s main stage as Ivanka Screw for another makeover challenge, only this time _he’s_ top 6 in the competition. This year’s challenge was full of twists and turns: starting with the fact that they picked women to makeover only to have them replaced by those women’s significant others. It turned out that these couples would be wed, live, on Coran’s Drag Race (Coran herself would be officiating the ceremonies) and the queens’ challenge was to drag up the grooms and turn them all into blushing ‘brides’. 

Technically, speaking, Shiro’s ‘bride’ is an actual bride. Her name is Zethrid, and she is a biological woman, but she’s more stacked than Shiro and more manly by far, so he’s had his work cut out for him just the same. 

Though untraditional, Shiro is more than excited to help Zethrid and her beautiful partner Ezor celebrate their union. The thought of weddings in general fills his stomach with butterflies, and he’s got a ring back home with Keith’s name literally written on it, he’s just waiting for the perfect moment. He told Zethrid that much while he was painting her face less than an hour ago, and she had beamed and laughed at that with him. She reassured him that Keith would say yes, and added “when you’re with the right person, it doesn’t matter how they ask or how you do it, all that matters is that you love each other and commit to each other for life.” 

Shiro couldn’t agree more, and he said so, moments before turning to the camera and begging the editor not to include that in the final cut. Keith could not find out about Shiro’s planned proposal by hearing about it on a tv show! Even if it is the tv show that brought them together in the first place.

Shiro is thinking about how he will propose to Keith when he and Zethrid reach the end of the catwalk. Zethrid is looking regal and elegant in her tight white dress. She’s been heavily padded into an hourglass figure, and she looks astoundingly sexy. Her wig is large and set with white pearls, with curling tendrils of hair that frame her face, which has been painted to look delicate and soft. 

Shiro stands beside her on stage, and for the first time in the competition he really worries about what he’s presenting to the judges. His mother-of-the-bride realness look as he envisioned it would be kind of matronly; very divorcee chic. He had planned to wear a dusted wig and a pants suit to walk his drag daughter down the aisle, but Coran’s walk through the workroom talked him out of it. 

So now Shiro was more sister-of-the-bride, in a curvy blue salsa dress, with butterflies pinning his black wig and shock of white into place. He feels beautiful, of course, but he also feels he is failing the challenge. It’s frustrating to think that Coran’s own advice would lead him to fail, so Shiro blocks it from his mind, straightens his posture, and reminds himself that he’s better off taking Coran’s advice.

Shiro stands at Zethrid’s side, with her arm linked in his, as the music turns into a wedding march. He shares a deep breath and a big smile with Zethrid as the lights swivel to light up the newcomer at the stage entrance.

Shiro expects Zethrid to turn and look at Ezor, but she doesn’t. She stays looking at Shiro, and her grin only grows wider.

Confused, Shiro looks to the judges, who are smiling and twittering at their panel table. He swings around Zethrid to see who’s coming, and his heart stops.

Keith strides down the runway like he owns it. He’s in a dark black tux and his hair is pulled back into a handsome braid. His eyes land on Shiro’s and his whole face lights up with glee. 

A firm push from Zethrid sends Shiro stumbling down to meet his boyfriend. He lands in Keith’s arms and finds an immediate strength that only Keith can give him. 

“Keith!” he stammers, “What are you doing here?”

“Marrying you,” Keith laughs, “hopefully.”

“What?” Shiro asks because he doesn’t understand. Not even a little. Nothing computes. 

Then Keith dips down to one knee and Shiro’s heart hammers in his chest. 

“Ivanka Screw. Takashi Shirogane. You have been my sister, my brother, my partner, my lover, my universe, and my love from the day we met. I will never feel for anyone what I feel for you. Please, Shiro, will you marry me?”

Shiro giggles like a schoolgirl and nods excitedly as Keith slips the ring onto his finger.

“Right now?” Keith asks.

“Right now?” Shiro repeats, confused again. He blinks at Keith, and then looks around at the flashing lights, the cameras, and the smiling faces of the judges. He had forgotten where they were. 

He had also forgotten that Coran is an ordained officiant. 

“Yes!”

Their wedding is simple and short (they do still have a competition going on) and it’s followed by Zethrid and Ezor’s. 

The judge’s critiques fly by, and Shiro hears almost none of it; he’s so preoccupied by the shining ring on his hand and the knowledge that Keith is waiting for him backstage.   
Shiro wins the challenge, and the prize is a honeymoon vacation for both couples. Even that excitement is dulled in comparison to the fact that he is married! To _Keith_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you SO much for reading and commenting guys!!! You don't know how much of a joy it's been to have discussions in the comments about Voltron and Drag Race. It's been a perfect mix of my 2 great loves!
> 
> I take heart in the idea that Shiro can be a disaster gay even years into their relationship. Just "Keith in tux, uh buh? What? Marriage? Are we still on stage?" lol
> 
> I'm not sure yet what I'm posting next in 2 weeks time, I think it might be a Hance fic, but there's lots of Sheith waiting to be posted! You can follow me on tumblr or twitter for updates on new fics, if you're into that kind of thing.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I hope you guys like this so far! I went through a Drag Race spiral a few weeks ago and re-watched every episode and this was the result.
> 
> I kind of get an Adore Delano vibe from Keith in this? Like, looks wise, I think that raw, rocker kind of look is very Keith. Not so much personality-wise because I think Adore's far too sweet for Keith's angry ass. <3
> 
> I tend to read Coran's lines in Ru's voice instead of Coran's, except for that bit in the workroom when he's giving Keith grief - That's all Coran lol
> 
> I'm going back to posting every 2 weeks now, instead of every week, since this is a shorter fic than Veteran's Affair and because my extended writers block means I have less stuff ready to go.
> 
> Don't forget to follow me on Twitter (@WTuesdays) or on Tumblr (WatermelonTuesdays) for updates on this and other fics. 
> 
> And feel free to yell at me about this or just Drag Race in general in the comments lol


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